Week 2

I remember vividly the moment I decided I should start running seriously. Like lots of people in their twenties who are in generally good health, I'd taken my fitness for granted, reasoning that as long as I wasn't visibly gaining weight I didn't need to think about it. Then one day I had to run for a train. The way to the station involved a short flight of steps, then a gentle slope up to reach the bridge that crossed our street. And halfway up the slope I had to stop and gasp for air, wheezing like a set of old bellows, my legs struck dumb with oxygen deficiency. And my sister-in-law, who was with us at the time, turned round and said something reproachful about my fitness level. And in that moment, as I hurtled the last few strides up the slope and fell into the train carriage, I vowed to do something about my fitness.
I ran my first 10K race later that year. There is a high-profile race in Edinburgh called the Capital City Challenge, now run in the spring but back then in September. I signed up for it, wrapping it into a weekend away with my wife. But first, as a warm-up, I entered the race at the Bute Highland Games in Rothesay.
I had no idea what to expect. The race was on a Saturday afternoon when my wife was working, so I had the day to myself. I parked the car at Wemyss Bay station, caught the ferry across to Rothesay and walked up the shallow hill to the public stadium (a few hours later I would learn one of the secret rules of distance running: hills become steeper when you run up them). I paid my £3 entry fee and received my race number and a bunch of safety pins. Just before we lined up to race, a man came up to me and asked what time I expected to run. Not really knowing, I plumped for 45 minutes. “I'll stick with you, then; I usually run them in about 45 minutes,” he said cheerfully.
I walked up to the start line, a chalk line halfway down a grass athletics track. It was like a scene from Chariots of Fire. The gun went; the runners set off; my new friend blasted away towards the front. I tried to keep with him but gave up after about 20 strides. Surely we weren't going to keep this pace up for six and a bit miles?
Out of the stadium, around the corner, the course headed down towards the shore and I saw my race partner again, his legs floundering, being dragged backwards through the field. He had gone out far too quickly and so, I realised, had I. Another runner warned: “it's a long way to go, young man” as he plodded past me. By the 1km mark I was utterly spent. A short, wizened man with a head of white hair like a sand dune scuttled past me, followed by an even shorter woman whose protruding elbows made her look like a flapping moth. 45 minutes seemed like a laughable boast.
We ran out by the shore, towards Port Bannatyne, around a short loop and back again. At about the 7km point a taller woman limbered giraffe-like past me. By now I gauged I'd struggle to make the hour. I felt foolish for even thinking of running so far. Only a vague anxiety about wounded pride detered me from stopping altogether. The final hill up to the stadium was a gruelling relief. I fell across the line, pulled on my tracksuit and stood around waiting for the results.
Within an hour or so they were posted. Out of the 57 runners, I finished 38th. But astonishingly, I'd managed a time of 45 minutes and 4 seconds. I boarded the last ferry home, feeling calm and contented, the pain of those miles already a fading memory, and anticipating my run in the Capital City Challenge the next month.
I went to Edinburgh determined to break the 45 minute barrier. In the event, I ran 45 minutes flat. Technically, then, I failed. But it only made me determined to try again. I had the running bug.
This week I went out with the watch twice. Running three times a week for the first time had an immediate impact: I was a minute faster over four miles. Slightly disappointed not to make further inroads on the second run, but the legs felt much lighter than last week.

Runs completed: 4.2 miles (32:34); 4.2 miles (32:29); 6.1 miles
Week's mileage: 14.5
Total mileage: 29.0
Shoe mileage: Saucony 20.6
Fitness level: 65%